Basic Books is a book publisher founded in 1952 and located in New York. It publishes books in the fields of psychology, philosophy, economics, science, politics, sociology, current affairs, and history. Basic Books publishes new works in African and African-American studies under the Basic Civitas imprint.
Basic's list of authors includes:
History
Basic Books originated as a small, Greenwich Villageâ€"based book club marketed to psychoanalysts. Arthur Rosenthal took over the book club in 1950, and under his ownership it soon began producing original books, mostly in the behavioral sciences. Early successes included Ernest Jones’ The Life and Work of Sigmund Freud, as well as works by Claude Lévi-Strauss, Jean Piaget and Erik Erikson. Irving Kristol joined Basic Books in 1960, and helped Basic to expand into the social sciences. Harper & Row purchased the company in 1969, by which time Basic was already renowned for producing intellectual books which appealed to both academic and trade markets.
In 1997, HarperCollins announced that it would merge Basic Books into its trade publishing program, effectively closing the imprint. That same year, Basic was purchased by the newly created Perseus Books Group, of which it is still a member.
References
External links
- Basic Books website
- Perseus Group website
- Samuel G. Freedman on the formation of Perseus Books